Merge issues

Question

I have recieved a merge request from a member, I have set an unmerged match for now.

My questios: If I approve the merge, do I get to complete it myself? Or can either member go ahead and do it? I would like to do the merge myself.

On the merge page it seems to want to merge Doust-100 into Doust-258

Why? Doust 100 is my Grandfather an has a full biography; Photo's and sources. Doust-258 is almost empty profile and unsourced.

Answer 1

Shaun, a proposed merge is completed immediately when either of two things happens:

1. managers of both profiles approve it
2. 30 days have passed, neither manager has rejected it, privacy is open on both, and any member chooses to complete it

If the merge is proposed by a manager of 1 of the profiles, that is deemed to be approval, so when the second manager approves the merge he/she will be the one completing it.

In order to get to complete the merge of a profile you manage, the profile you don't manage needs to be approved before yours!

About the merge order - when the 2 LNABs are identical the merge will AUTOMATICALLY end up with the lower number remaining.  It doesn't matter which profile has more or less or better information because all the "free text" content of both will be preserved in the result and it is the responsibility of whoever completes the merge to clean up the biography and sources to effectively merge that into a unified narrative with only a single source list.  As to the data, whoever completes the merge will select which profile's data to keep for each item separately.

If the LNABs are not identical (even upper/lower case of the same letter is a difference) then the person proposing the merge has to select the direction and the person completing the merge has an opportunity to change the direction.  In this case, it is important to end up with the correct spelling of the LNAB.

Comments

Thank you Gaile for the valuable information, much appreciated.

Answer 2

Well, the final merge will be Doust-258 INTO Doust-100 (lowest number or you'll get a warning banner!)

It could well be that they're just trying to get rid of an almost-empty, unsourced profile.

Doust-100 (your grandfather) will remain.

Unless you are on the Trusted List for Doust-258, you won't be able to complete the merge because it is yellow-locked and private.

Comments

Thank you Ros, exactly why I asked these questions. It is a relative who has created a duplicate and now he has requested a merge. The profile is empty and he has appologised for duplicating as he is new to Wikitree. It is most important that I do the merge myself. As my Grandfather is deceist will it be better if I ask him to open the privacy of Doust-258?

---

Yes, since you know him, then ask him to make it Open, also to approve the merge first (before you).  As per Gaile's answer above, if you approve it second then you get to complete it. 

---

Thank you Rosoh while IM here one more thing, I want to give him his family's profiles the Rdgway's. Do I put them up for adoption? How? I don't wish to manage them anymore.

---

Shaun, as manager of the profiles you "want to give him", you can click the Privacy tab and add him to the trusted list by entering his email address.  It takes a second action to check a box for someone on a trusted list to make them a manager.  At the same place, you can click a checkbox to remove yourself as manager (that would keep you on the trusted list) or click a button to remove yourself (that would take you off the trusted list).

You don't have to do that, though.  You can just remove yourself - that will orphan the profiles and he can then adopt them if he wishes.

I would want to be sure that someone wants to be added as profile manager before just making them manager.  One bad thing here is that he will not be notified that you have made him a manager, so he might not realize it and - someday - he'll get a big surprise when he looks at his watchlist!

---

Gaile's reply to your question regarding the Ridgeways gives you the instructions on how to accomplish the transfer. But why not ask your relative if they would like to become the PM for the Ridgeway profiles you want to let go? Then it would not be a surprise to them when you make the changes.

---

Thank you Gaile, yes he wants them as he has already duplicated them and now wants me to merge them, so I will make him PM and remove myself and he can sort out all his duplicates. I will just keep the Doust profiles and for those no-one will get trusted access.

---

Thank you Jim, yes I am going to do that

Answer 3

Also, in order for you to complete the merge, your relative will need to add you to the trusted list and/or change the privacy settings.

Answer 4

If somebody proposes a merge and you're a PM and your approval is needed, you have 30 days to sit on it and do nothing,  Within that time, you can approve and complete when you're ready.

There's a slight risk that somebody will jump in and block the merge.

If you set an Unmerged Match, you then have to go back to square one.  This means, to make any progress, you have to re-propose the merge and then somebody else will complete it.

Unmerged Match doesn't work the way it's advertised and is rarely a good idea.